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India’s PC Market Shipped an All-Time High of 4.49 Million Units in 3Q24

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India’s traditional PC market (inclusive of desktops, notebooks, and workstations) shipped an all-time high of 4.49 Million Units in 3Q24, up 0.1% year-over-year (YoY) according to new data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. The desktop category declined by 8.1% YoY, while the notebook and workstation categories saw marginal growth of 2.8% YoY and 2.4% YoY, respectively. Online festival sales drove the demand for premium notebooks (>US$1,000), which grew by 7.6% YoY. For More Information – https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prAP52757324&utm

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Intel to Power Large PC Refresh with New Silicon-Based Security

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Millions of business PC users are gearing up for a major upgrade. This year is expected to witness one of the largest computer refresh cycles in recent history—surpassing even the 2020 surge driven by remote work and learning demands during the COVID-19 pandemic. A Forecast for 2025 The business PC landscape is on the brink of transformation, driven by three powerful market forces: A New Era of Manageability and Security This wave of upgrades means IT professionals must manage fleets of PCs—ranging from a handful to tens of thousands—while maintaining the highest standards of security and privacy. To address these challenges, Intel has unveiled the groundbreaking Intel® Core™ Ultra 200V series processors, codenamed Lunar Lake, on the Intel vPro® platform. These processors offer unmatched AI capabilities, enhanced security, and seamless manageability. Notably, they’re the first to feature Microsoft Copilot+ PC integration, with innovative tools like Recall, Click to Do, and Cocreator set to redefine productivity on Intel-powered devices. As businesses prepare for this unprecedented refresh cycle, Intel’s advanced technology ensures they remain at the forefront of innovation, security, and performance. For More Information – https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/newsroom/news/2025-ces-vpro-business.html?utm

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Microsoft to End Support for Windows 10: Millions of Users Face Upgrade Challenge

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Microsoft has announced that starting October 2025, it will cease providing security updates and technical support for Windows 10, signaling the end of an era for one of the most widely used operating systems. This change is expected to impact millions of users, especially those with older hardware that cannot support Windows 11. Industry estimates suggest that approximately 450 million devices worldwide are running on hardware incompatible with Windows 11 due to stringent system requirements, such as the need for TPM 2.0 (Trusted Platform Module) and specific processor benchmarks. These users will need to upgrade their PCs to ensure access to the latest features, performance enhancements, and, most importantly, critical security updates. For businesses and individuals still relying on Windows 10, this shift highlights the urgent need to plan for an upgrade or consider alternative operating systems. Many organizations are exploring strategies to refresh their hardware infrastructure, a move that could involve significant investment but also presents an opportunity to enhance operational efficiency through newer technologies. Microsoft’s decision is part of its broader strategy to encourage adoption of Windows 11, a platform designed with a focus on enhanced security, productivity, and seamless integration with cloud services. The transition also aligns with the industry’s push toward modern computing and AI-driven functionalities. As the October deadline approaches, both consumers and enterprises are advised to evaluate their systems, explore trade-in programs, and leverage promotional offers for new devices. This pivotal moment underscores the dynamic nature of the tech industry and the continuous evolution of digital ecosystems. For More Information – https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-is-ending-support-for-office-apps-in-windows-10/?utm

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PC shipments are expected to grow by 4.3% in 2025, driven mainly by commercial desktop upgrades

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In 2025, we can expect significant growth in the PC market. IDG forecasts a 4.3% increase in total PC shipments, largely driven by commercial refresh cycles, even in the most challenging macroeconomic conditions. As Reith highlights, medium-to-large businesses typically upgrade their PCs every three to four years, making the commercial refresh a key resilient factor, particularly in developed markets where enterprises aim to stay ahead of the curve. Microsoft has already named 2025 as the “year of the Windows 11 PC refresh,” marking the end of feature and security support for Windows 10 devices after October 14. However, several uncertainties remain, including inflation concerns, ongoing geopolitical tensions, and potential changes under the Trump administration. The Consumer Technology Association has warned that proposed tariffs on imports—ranging from 10 to 20% for most countries, and up to 100% on goods from China—could lead to a 68% price increase for laptops and tablets. For More Information – https://www.computerworld.com/article/3732169/more-than-4-pc-shipment-growth-predicted-for-2025-but-not-for-what-you-expect-says-idc.html?utm

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Nvidia Introduces Device Aimed at Small Companies, Hobbyists for AI Use

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Nvidia has recently introduced two devices aimed at making AI development more accessible to small companies and hobbyists: Jetson Orin Nano Super Developer Kit: Priced at $249, this compact yet powerful computer is designed to redefine generative AI for small edge devices. It offers high computational capabilities, making it suitable for developers, hobbyists, and educational institutions looking to explore AI development without substantial infrastructure investments.NVIDIA Project Digits: Announced at CES 2025, this personal AI supercomputer is slated for release in May, starting at $3,000. Powered by the new GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip, the compact system can handle AI models with up to 200 billion parameters. It offers 128GB of unified memory and up to 4TB of NVMe storage. For demanding applications, two systems can be linked to support models with up to 405 billion parameters. The GB10 chip provides 1 petaflop of AI performance with energy-efficient Arm-based cores developed in collaboration with MediaTek. Users will have access to Nvidia’s extensive AI software library, and the system supports popular frameworks like PyTorch, Python, and Jupyter notebooks. It runs on Linux-based Nvidia DGX OS and can integrate with cloud and data center deployments using the same architecture and software platform.THE VERGE These devices are part of Nvidia’s initiative to democratize AI capabilities, enabling data scientists, researchers, and students to experiment with advanced AI technologies without the need for extensive infrastructure. For More Information – https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/nvidia-introduces-device-aimed-at-small-companies-hobbyists-3972ae41?utm

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AMD Announces Versal Premium Series Gen 2 Enabling New Levels of System Acceleration to Meet the Demands of Data-Intensive Workloads

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Extends Versal Gen 2 portfolio with industry’s first FPGA devices featuring CXL 3.1 and PCIe Gen6, with LPDDR5X support, for fast connectivity, more efficient data movement, and unlocking more memory SANTA CLARA, Calif., Nov. 12, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) today announced the AMD Versal™ Premium Series Gen 2, an adaptive SoC platform designed to deliver the highest levels of system acceleration for a wide range of workloads. Versal Premium Series Gen 2 will be the FPGA industry’s first devices featuring Compute Express Link (CXL®) 3.1 and PCIe® Gen6 as well as LPDDR5X memory support in hard IP.1 These next-generation interface and memory technologies access and move data rapidly and efficiently between processors and accelerators. CXL 3.1 and LPDDR5X help unlock more memory resources faster to address the growing real-time processing and storage demands of data-intensive applications in data center, communications, test and measurement, and aerospace and defense markets. “System architects are constantly looking to pack more data into smaller spaces and move data more efficiently between parts of the system,” said Salil Raje, senior vice president and general manager, Adaptive and Embedded Computing Group, AMD. “Our latest addition to the Versal Gen 2 portfolio helps customers improve overall system throughput and utilization of memory resources to achieve the highest performance and unlock insights for their most demanding applications from the cloud to the edge.” Accelerate Host ConnectivityAMD champions open innovation through its support of CXL, an open industry-standard interconnect between processors and devices such as FPGA-based accelerators. With support for CXL 3.1 and PCIe Gen6, the industry’s fastest host interfaces,2 Versal Premium Gen 2 devices enable industry-leading, high-bandwidth host CPU-to-accelerator connectivity. PCIe Gen6 offers a 2-4X faster line rate compared to competing FPGAs with PCIe Gen4 or Gen5 support,2 while CXL 3.1 running PCIe Gen6 provides double the bandwidth of competing devices with CXL 2.03 at similar latencies, as well as enhanced fabric and coherency capabilities. Additionally, by pairing Versal Premium Series Gen 2 with an AMD EPYC™ CPUs, system architects can leverage the latest AMD FPGA-based device connected via CXL or PCIe to a high-performance CPU, to accelerate data-intensive applications and meet rapid data growth demands. CXL also brings an additional benefit of memory coherency to help enable true heterogeneous, accelerated computing. Increasing Memory Bandwidth and UtilizationAMD Versal Premium Series Gen 2 adaptive SoCs accelerate memory bandwidth for faster data transfers and real-time responsiveness with the fastest LPDDR5X memory connectivity available, at up to 8533 Mb/s. This ultra-fast, enhanced DDR memory enables up to 2.7X faster host connectivity over comparable competitive devices with LPDDR4/5 memory.4 Connectivity to CXL memory expansion modules enable up to 2.7X more total bandwidth than LPDDR5X memory alone.5 As a result, the Versal Premium Series Gen 2 allows for scalable memory pooling and extension for multiple accelerators, optimizing memory utilization and increasing bandwidth and capacity. By dynamically allocating a memory pool for multiple devices, Versal Premium Series Gen 2 adaptive SoCs are designed to improve memory utilization in a Multi-Headed Single Logic Device (MH-SLD), allowing it to operate without a fabric or switch, while supporting up to two CXL hosts. Strengthen Data SecurityEnhanced security features help the Versal Premium Series Gen 2 transfer data quickly and securely, both in transit and at rest. It is the industry’s first FPGA device to feature support for integrated PCIe® Integrity and Data Encryption (IDE) in hard IP.6 Inline encryption built into hard DDR memory controllers helps secure data at rest, while 400G High-Speed Crypto Engines help the device secure user data at up to 2X faster line rates, enabling faster secure data transactions.7 AMD Versal Premium Series Gen 2 development tools are expected to be available in the second half of 2025, followed by the availability of silicon samples in the first half of 2026. Production shipments are expected to begin in the second half of 2026. Supporting Resources Courtesy: www.amd.com

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AMD boosts AI performance in new line of enterprise PC chips

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The neural processing unit performance of newer chips opens a new front in the battle with Intel and Qualcomm for AI desktop supremacy. AMD’s big Advancing AI event in San Francisco on Thursday underlined how quickly the microprocessor industry has pivoted to artificial intelligence (AI) as its main sales pitch. The company offered three hardware announcements across its processor line-up, each appealing to different parts of the AI market. The first was the new Instinct MI325X AI accelerator chip, a datacenter-oriented GPU which ups performance on every metric compared to last year’s MI300. The company also showed off its fifth-generation EPYC processors for the enterprise cloud and datacenter sector. And it unveiled the new Ryzen AI PRO 300 series, a family of processors for mobile PCs aimed at enterprise buyers. Mobile chips have traditionally been low power (and lower performance versions) of their desktop equivalents, but with the focus on AI, that distinction is fast disappearing. AI requires more raw power, which is now showing up in the specifications for new chips. For example, the Ryzen AI PRO 300 series offers three processors, starting with the Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 375; it features 12 Zen 5 cores/24 threads, a clock speed that can be boosted to 5.1GHz, and integrated Radeon 890M graphics. It also features a neural processing unit (NPU) that delivers up to 55 tera operations per second (TOPS), making it the most powerful mobile NPU of its kind on the market. Just below that in the line-up is the Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 370, an identical chip with slightly less NPU performance — up to 50 TOPS. And the entry-level chip is the Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 with 8 cores/16 threads, a 5GHz clock speed, Radeon 880M graphics, and the same 50 TOPS NPU performance. NPUs are on the new frontline of desktop competition because they make possible features such as accelerating Microsoft’s Copilot + and AI-intensive tasks such as real-time language translation. They also pit AMD against traditional rival Intel, which has had NPUs of its own in its Core Ultra CPUs since 2023. Today, NPU AI acceleration is premium priced, but there are signs the technology is likely to jump quickly to more mainstream chips. “With Ryzen AI, we’ve actually enabled hundreds of different AI functions,” said AMD CEO Lisa Su near the end of a two-hour Advancing AI presentation. “Our latest software stack makes it really easy for developers to optimize thousands of pre-trained models for Ryzen. “Our Ryzen AI Pro 300 series resets the bar for what a business PC can do,” she said. AI-enabled chips could quickly become standard issue across all sectors. Earlier this year, IDC predicted that by 2027, PCs with AI acceleration built in would constitute 60% of all PC shipments. On the same day as AMD’s event, Intel announced its new Core Ultra 200S processors, which the company claims deliver NPU performance of 36 TOPs between its CPU, GPU and NPU. A third player in the market offering NPU technology is Qualcomm, which launched its Snapdragon X PC chip in September. News Sources: Computerworld

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Intel Core Ultra 9 285K 24 Core CPU Benchmarked In CPU-Z & Blender, Up To 19% Faster, Both Ultra 7 265K & Ultra 5 245K Tested Too

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Intel’s Core Ultra 9 285K flagship CPU along with the Core Ultra 7 265K and Core Ultra 5 245K have been tested in various benchmarks. Intel Core Ultra 9 285K CPU achieves up to 19% performance over 14900K in Blender Benchmark, Core Ultra 7 265K & Core Ultra 5 245K Tested Too Intel revealed its latest Core Ultra 200 Series aka Arrow Lake processors on 10th October, which comprises five SKUs for the initial launch. The Core Ultra 9 285K is the fastest in the series, featuring 24 cores/24 threads, challenging the current flagship Core i9 14900K from the Raptor Lake Refresh family. The processor was recently benchmarked in two different programs, showing some good scores in the multi-threaded benchmarks but had some issues. As spotted by @momomo_us, reviewers are now Benchmarking the Core Ultra 9 285K in CPU-Z, using the ASRock Z890 Steel Legend WiFi. It’s not clear what CPU cooler was used but looks like it wasn’t enough to cool down this beast. Source: Valid.x86.fr From the results, we can see that the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K achieved an impressive 18964 points in multi-threaded performance, which outperforms all the previous flagship mainstream Intel Core i9 processors. However, the single-core score maxed at 909 points, which is still behind many Core i9s from both Raptor Lake and Raptor Lake Refresh families. Nonetheless, what we see is that the CPU reached a whopping 101°C, which is pretty close to its maximum operating temperature limit of 105°C. This looks like a clear case of thermal throttling, which affects the performance. The CPU did reach its max P-Core and E-Core boost clocks of 5.5 GHz and 4.6 GHz respectively but at this temperature, it’s hard to sustain these clock speeds for long. One more thing to notice from the details page is that the Uncore or Ring Bus clock is mentioned as 3790.9 MHz, which is reportedly 700 MHz lower than the Core i9 14900K. This is why some leaks report little improvements in gaming performance. The Intel Core Ultra 9 285K CPU was also benchmarked in Blender v4.2(via @9550pro) and scored 557.46 points. This initial test is much better than the performance of Core i9 14900K, which scored 475.97 points but it still loses to Ryzen 9 9950X, which scored 598.7 points.Image Source: CPU-z validation Image Credit: @9950pro The Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, Core Ultra 7 265K & Core Ultra 5 245K have also been tested in Blender. The Core Ultra 9 285K scored 566.88 points while the Core Ultra 7 265K scored 471.21 points and the Core Ultra 5 245K scored 323.46 points. News Sources: Wccftech, @momomo_us, @9550pro

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AMD Provides Developers Full Low-Level Control of Radeon Adrenalin GPU Drivers As Part of “Driver Experiments”

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Developers are now free to experiment with AMD’s Radeon Adrenalin GPU drivers through the new “Driver Experiments” feature. AMD gives devs more control of Adrenalin “Radeon” GPU Drivers for tuning, Available driver experiments include support for Ray Tracing, Shader, GPU work graphics, and more AMD has made a smart move by adding ‘Driver Experiments‘ in its Tool Suite, which will now allow game developers to tweak stuff they couldn’t previously. This change has been introduced in the Radeon Developer Tool Suite, which provides developers with plenty of helpful tools like Radeon GPU Detective(RGD), Radeon GPU Profiler(RGP), Radeon Memory Visualizeer(RMV), and Radeon Raytracing Analyzer(RRA). AMD has made a smart move by adding ‘Driver Experiments‘ in its Tool Suite, which will now allow game developers to tweak stuff they couldn’t previously. This change has been introduced in the Radeon Developer Tool Suite, which provides developers with plenty of helpful tools like Radeon GPU Detective(RGD), Radeon GPU Profiler(RGP), Radeon Memory Visualizeer(RMV), and Radeon Raytracing Analyzer(RRA). Developers can optimize their games themselves by understanding what works better for the performance and what does not. For instance, if the game crashes or suffers from serious performance issues, developers can try resolving the issue by activating options like ‘Disable Raytracing Support’ and see if it is the actual culprit. For the most up-to-date information, including supported hardware and software, the list and description of all the experiments currently available, please check the RDP product page on GPUOpen.com and the RDP documentation, “Driver Experiments” chapter. If you have ideas for new experiments worth adding or any suggestions to the tool in general, you can open “Issue” tickets in the RDP repository on GitHub. via GPUOpen There are more advanced features like Disable Low Precision Support, Disable Native 16-bit Tyep Support, Disable AMD Vendor Extensions, Disable Compute Queue Support, and Disable Copy Queue Support to further enrich the tools suite for the developers. There are plenty of optimization features as well, which will allow disabling or controller shader compiler behavior to improve the performance. Developers can disable more parameters from the graphics driver, which are enabled by default but now will let them help in debugging. Apart from these, AMD has introduced Safety Features for making applications and games more stable. This may lead to some performance degradation but will help developers identify the type of error causing the instability. Essentially, the Driver Experiments opens up the way for a low-level control of the AMD Adrenalin driver without changing the actual source code. With such a versatile tools suite, it will make it easy for AMD to handle the game optimizations since developers are allowed to do it themselves. News Source: GPUOpen

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